


Time Would Heal All Hearts

by foreverfelicityqueen (stydiasredstring)



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Holidays, canon character death, holiday fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-24 10:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17099093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stydiasredstring/pseuds/foreverfelicityqueen
Summary: William Clayton-Queen is pretty sure he has everything he could wish for this Christmas. There's really no reason to ask Santa for anything. Except maybe one thing. Will's dad Oliver hasn't dated anyone since his mom died two years ago, and William is sure that all he needs is a little Holiday magic to find 'the one'. With a visit to Santa, some help from his aunts and uncle, and the perfect plan, William is sure this is the year his dad finds his happily ever after.





	1. Underneath the Tree

**Author's Note:**

> I started a Holiday story.... And I love it, so this is happening. Here's the first chapter. Let me know what you guys think.

William had never been a kid who wanted for much. As his Aunt Thea liked to tell him when she put him to bed, he had been the brightest light in his parents life at a time when darkness seemed to seep into everyone’s path. And his father confirmed on many occasions that William had saved him in more ways than anyone ever could. But the boy hadn’t really understood.

He sat at the base of the staircase, decorators and staff rushing around his grandmother’s foyer getting things just right for the holidays. William wanted to sneak another peek at the tree in the living room, but he was under strict instructions to stay out from under the workers feet. He had rolled his eyes at that. Because he was way too big to actually be  _ under _ anyone’s feet. He just wanted to look at the ornaments, to see if anyone had put the family ones up yet. To see if anyone had put his mom’s up yet. But he didn’t think they would have.

His dad had promised him they would wait until the whole family could be together to do it. It was important to Oliver that they did things together, especially after losing Will’s mother two years ago. And William loved that his dad held those kinds of things close. It’s probably what had drawn his parents together in the first place, he liked to think. Even if it hadn’t been enough to keep them that way.

“William,” Raisa said as she came over. “What are you doing down here? You should go play, or get your wishlist ready for Santa.”

William shook his head. “I don’t need a list for Santa, Raisa.”

“But then how will he know what to bring you for Christmas?”

He shrugged, looking at his grandmother at the edge of the living room, his grandad stood just behind her, placing a kiss on her cheek. “I’d rather Santa spend his time thinking about kids who need things more than I do.”

“You are a good boy,” she whispered, patting his cheek. “Come, let’s get cookies.”

“Sweet.”

But before William could stand with her the front door opened, bringing a chill from outside, but also his father.

“Dad,” he rushed from the steps and into Oliver’s leg. He didn’t care that he was eight. When you lost someone, it made you cherish when the rest of your family came home. “How was work?”

“Long,” Oliver replied, but pulled William to his side in a tight hug. “You have fun at school today?”

“I got a perfect score on my math test.”

“Amazing,” he replied giving William a smile. “We should celebrate.”

“You say that every time.”

“Well I mean it every time,” he countered with a grin. “But tomorrow. Grandma already called me with a crisis.”

“Do not exaggerate to the boy,” his grandmother said as she came into the room. “But your father insisted on this  _ dinner _ , and I’m not about to get through it without you or your sister here.”

“Moria dear, Oliver just stepped through the door, perhaps he needs a moment to at least set his coat down.”

That was what William loved most about his grandad Walter. He could calm Grandma down faster than almost anyone. Which was good because Grandpa Robert tended to like to work her up. Will sometimes found his family a little complicated to follow. What with his grandma being married to Walter, and his grandpa having a girlfriend who was about his dad’s age, who no one really liked. Then he had his aunts Thea and Emiko, who were both awesome in their own ways. Aunt Thea spoiled him and read him stories, but Auntie Em liked to bring him old maps and puzzles from around the world. Grandma didn’t always act like she  _ liked _ Auntie Em, but she played nice enough around the holidays. There was one thing Emiko and his grandma seemed to agree on though. 

“Why Robert insists on bringing her to these family dinners is beyond me,” Moira groaned. “I mean honestly, it’s appalling.”

“Maybe he wants her to be family,” Oliver added as he tucked William into his side.

“I will blame your long day at work for that comment,” she turned on her son with a glare. “The last thing anyone in this family needs is Isabel Rochev as a permanent member.” 

“If Isabel marries Grandpa does that mean I’d have to call her Grandma too?”

Moira coughed into her hand, but William could see the smile on the edge of her lips. “Not on my watch my boy, now go wash up for dinner.”

“But Dad said we could do ornaments tonight,” William protested.

“Your aunts and uncle aren’t here yet, buddy,” he kissed William’s forehead and nudged him towards the stairs. “After dinner I promise.”

William nodded and made his way up the stairs, he heard snippets of his grandmother’s complaints about Isabel. But other than that he tuned them out as he went to his room. Grown up things were kind of boring.

\---

“I just think that the numbers for the overseas office are not as high as they could have been,” Isabel said as she took a sip of her drink.

William didn’t know what the adults of his family were talking about, he was too busy watching funny videos on his Uncle Tommy’s phone. But he saw the way his Auntie Em, darted her eyes towards the woman, narrowing her gaze. 

“Excuse me?”

“Emiko,” Grandpa Robert’s voice warned. “She didn’t mean anything by your job.”

“Clearly,” Emiko said as she stood from the couch and moved over to standby Aunt Thea as she muttered. “Where is Oliver with those damn ornaments?”

“Bad word,” William replied looking up at her with a grin. 

“Put it on my tab kid,” she replied as she downed her drink. “Seriously I have to catch a flight tomorrow.”

“Oh you’re going to the Milan office too?” Isabel perked up. “We should ride together, compare notes.”

His aunt turned away from the main room just as his father reentered, carrying an old cedar chest. “Got ‘em.”

“Finally,” Aunt Thea said as she took Em’s drink and set it on the mantle. “Come on, you know this is your favorite tradition.”

The two of them took the chest from his father, and set it down on the coffee table. It’s the only time of year his grandmother didn’t complain about dust and scratches on the old thing. But he thought it had a lot to do with the tradition itself. 

Auntie Em reached in and pulled out the first ornament, frowning a little when she saw it. “Merlyn, of course.”

“Come on Em, you know the rules,” he teased with William in his lap. “You have to say something nice when you put it on the tree.”

She rolled her eyes as she stood and made her way to the tree. “You’re a decent doctor.” 

“Wow decent. I feel so loved.”

“Get up and grab an ornament,” she glared, reclaiming her seat next to Thea. 

Tommy took the next ornament out, and held it up with a grin. “Walter. You my friend, are always there when someone needs a shoulder.”

“Thank you Tommy, that was rather kind.”

He nodded as Walter reached it next. This went on in rounds for a while. Isabel made some comment about not having an ornament in the box, and William thought for a second that the women in his family might actually snap. But they turned back to what they were doing, like they hadn’t heard her at all. 

When his grandmother had placed his Dad’s ornament on the tree, William could see how the rest would unfold. 

His dad pulled out his, and smiled as he moved to the tree. “William, you are the best thing in my world.”

“You say that every year.”

“And it’s always true.”

William pulled the next ornament out, his grandma’s name glittering in the light. “Grandma Moira gives the best hugs.”

As he said it she came up behind him and captured him in a good one. “I love you,” she whispered. 

As he placed Moira’s ornament on the highest branch he could reach, he turned back to his dad. “Mom next?”

“Yeah,” Oliver said, already holding the brass angel in his hands. He lifted William up with his free arm, and handed him the small thing. “Forever missed.”

“Forever loved,” William finished with a smile. He kissed the ornament before he placed it on the branch right next to Auntie Em’s mom’s ornament. She died when Emiko was a little older than William was now. He hadn’t seen his aunt put it on the tree, but he suspected she must have done it when she put on Uncle Tommy’s. 

“Alright, buddy it’s getting late,” Oliver said as his son back down. “You should get ready for bed. We got a big day tomorrow.”

“Am I still coming to the office with you?”

“If you want to,” he said with a grin. “Sure you won’t get bored?”

“I’ll bring my homework in case I do.”

“Deal,” Oliver grinned. “Head upstairs. I’ll be there in a minute to tuck you in.”

William made like he was going to leave the room, and he had planned to head straight up. But something kept him lingering at the door to the living room. His father had moved back to the tree, his hand playing with the wings of the old angel.

“You know she’d be okay if you dated someone,” he could hear Uncle Tommy say in a low voice. “Sam, wouldn’t have wanted either of you to go on like this.”

“She’s his mom Tommy,” he heard his dad reply. “Nothing’s gonna change that.”

“Nothing has to change that. But you deserve to be happy,” his uncle said. “Will deserves for you to be happy too.”

William scrunched up his nose, as he thought about Tommy’s words. Was his dad unhappy? 

He never acted like it. He always gave warm hugs, and smiled at him no matter what he did. He thought they had everything, just the two of them and their crazy family. But could a part of his dad not be happy about that? Maybe something was missing and William hadn’t noticed? Maybe he didn’t know what to look for to notice?

One thing was for certain, this was a mystery. And he hated mysteries. He’d get to the bottom of it. And he had most of tomorrow to do so.


	2. All I Want for Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The response to this was amazing. And I sort of rushed this chapter because I wanted to get it out there for you guys. Special appearance by a certain blonde, tech genius ;). And William makes his Christmas wish....

“When I get older do I get to work at QC too?” William asked as he spun his chair another full rotation. It put a twisted dizziness in his head and stomach, but that could have also had more to do with the hot chocolate he had just finished.

“If that’s what you want,” Oliver said, glancing up from his paperwork. “But you know it’s not all fun and games, right?”

“You and Auntie Em have fun at work all the time.”

Oliver laughed and shook his head. “Your aunt has fun at work. I have fun at home with you.”

Will stopped his chair and looked over at his dad, the words he overhead from the night before still playing in his head. He had wanted to find the best way to bring up the subject, but it was proving more difficult than he originally thought.

“Do you ever go out and have fun with other people?”

Oliver looked at him again, his brows knitted in confusion. “Meaning what?”

“I mean,” Will said, drawing out the words. “Do you ever go out and have fun with friends, girlfriend’s specifically?”

His dad dropped his pen, and a nervous smile fell on his face. “Where’s this coming from?”

William shrugged. He knew the best way to get answers out of his dad would be to play things close to the vest. It’s how Uncle Tommy would do it. “I was just wondering.”

“I’m pretty busy William. Working at QC doesn’t lend a lot of time to date.”

“Uncle Tommy’s a doctor and he still met Dinah,” he supplied as he got down from his seat and moved towards the desk. “Don’t you want to find the one, Dad?”

Oliver let out a chuckle as he turned to face the boy. “Exactly what do you know about ‘the one’, huh?”

“I spend a lot of time with Aunt Thea,” he said matter of factly. 

“Ah.”

“So?”

“William.”

It hadn’t been his intention to grill his dad, really. But the more he thought about his uncle’s words, the more he thought about the truth to them. He knew people didn’t have to be married and in love to be happy. He knew that everyone was different. But as he looked at his dad, he could tell there was something missing, and William felt like it had been missing a lot longer than the last couple years. 

“Come on, Dad, humor me. I just want to know some stuff. Please? And you have to promise you’ll tell the truth.”

Oliver sighed, but nodded. “Okay.”

“Have you ever been in love?” he leaned against the edge of the desk as he spoke. “And I mean the real stuff. Like Aunt Thea and Roy or Uncle Tommy and Dinah, or ever Grandma and Grandad. Have you ever loved someone like that?”

His dad took a moment before he answered, pushing himself back from the desk to fully face William. “Buddy look, that’s a complicated question.”

“Because of Mom?”

Oliver shook his head. “I did love your mom, William. She was one of my best friends. I would never take back or regret the time we spent together. And I would give almost anything if she could be here with us now. But no, it wasn’t in love with her.”

“So you’ve never been in love?”

“I thought I was, once,” Oliver smiled at the memory. “But she ended up with someone else. That was before your mom. Other than that, no I don’t think I’ve ever been in love.”

“Because you haven’t found the one?”

“Guess not,” he pulled William close to him, lifting the boy until he was seated on the edge of the desk. “But that’s okay. I’ve got you.”

“No offense Dad, but that’s a weak excuse.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You can’t just not look for love because of me,” William replied with a sigh. “Or Mom.”

“William,” he nudged his hand under Will’s chin. “I love you, and I love my life. I don’t know where all this stuff came from, but you don’t need to worry about me.”

Will opened his mouth to say, that yes in fact he did need to worry about his dad. Because honestly who else would? He had to look out for his dad, not just with the small stuff, but apparently the big stuff too.

“Will you promise me you won’t worry about this anymore?”

William nodded, but he tucked his crossed fingers under his leg. He didn’t like the idea of breaking a promise with his father, but this would be for his own good. He just had to figure out his next step.

_ “Mr. Queen,” _ his dad’s assistant said through the intercom.  _ “Your two o’clock is here.” _

“I’ll be right out,” Oliver replied and picked William up off the desk. “I gotta try and wow this exec, alright? You’ll be fine in here until your Aunt Thea comes and picks you up?”

“Yep,” William nodded. He and Thea were going to the rec center in the Glades. Roy was dressing up like Santa for the kids, and he was actually looking forward to it.

“Good,” Oliver said with a smile as the office door opened. 

Both of the Queen boys turned towards the sound, expecting Oliver’s assistant Nick, but Nick wasn’t standing there. No instead it was a smiling blonde woman, her hair pulled back into a ponytail that William noticed bounced as she strood into the room. 

“I’m sorry to just barge in here like this,” she said with a shake to her head. “Your assistant said you’d be right out, but I don’t think this will actually take that long at all.”

William shot the woman a look, then glanced at his father. He didn’t seem too concerned about the random woman in his office, even if he did look a little off kilter as he spoke.

“Felicity Smoak, I presume,” Oliver said as he patted Will on the shoulder. “Hi, I’m Oliver Queen.”

“I know exactly who you are,” she replied as she surveyed the room. “I also know that QC has been circling my company for about six months now wanting this partnership. And I’m here to tell you, that while I appreciate the offer, we’re not interested.”

“You came all the way over here to tell me no?” his dad asked, and William could hear the smirk grow in Oliver’s voice. 

“Yes,” Felicity replied as she folded her arms. She seemed to realize in that same second that it wasn’t just her and Oliver in the room either. “Hello?”

“Hi,” William greeted. 

She muttered something under her breath about being overdramatic, but Will didn’t really catch it. “I didn’t realize you were…”

“Ms. Smoak,” Oliver said, and William looked up to see a laugh trying to escape his father. “This is my son, William. William this is the CEO of Smoak Tech.”

“You make cool watches,” William said with approval. He had gotten one for his birthday that past year and loved it. “It’s way better than my tablet.”

“Thank you,” she looked nervous then. “I should go. It was nice meeting you Mr. Queen.”

“Wait,” his dad moved a little and William watched as Felicity hesitated at the door. “I mean we did set up a whole hour for this meeting. I know you’ve got a firm no, and I respect that. But maybe you’ll stay, and hear the pitch out?”

William didn’t usually pay this much attention to the people his dad did business with, but there was something about this woman that he could instantly tell was different. Maybe it was her flustered presence, or maybe it was the way his dad couldn’t stop smiling. 

“You seem busy,” she said gesturing to William. “And I don’t want to waste your time.”

“It’s not a waste,” he replied. “I mean it, I really hope you’ll stay.”

_ “Mr. Queen, your sister is here,” _ Nick said through the intercom. 

Oliver leaned over his desk, hitting the button. “Tell her William will be right there.”

William reached behind his dad’s desk, grabbing his bag. 

“Be good for Thea and Roy,” Oliver said as he placed the scarf around Will’s neck. “No running off with Zoe just because you get bored.”

“I know Dad,” he rolled his eyes, then turned to Felicity. “You should stay and listen to his pitch, he worked all week on it.”

“Did he now?” Felicity ticked her gaze between the pair of them. “Is it a good pitch?”

“One of his best,” Will replied as he walked to the door. “Trust me on that.”

Felicity laughed, and William couldn’t help but notice his father following suit. Will watched them both for another second, then made his way out the door. 

“Hey kiddo,” Thea said as he walked towards Nick’s desk. “Ready to go?”

Will glanced back at his dad’s office once more then nodded at his aunt. “Yep, let’s go.”

\---

He was still thinking about his dad while the other kids ran around him, eating cookies and making their crafts.

“Will,” Zoe all but sang next to him. “What are you gonna ask Santa for?”

William had known all week that Roy would be dressing up as Santa. So while he knew the man across the room wasn’t  _ really _ Santa, he also knew that’s how these things worked. He also had a pretty firm stance on not asking for things he didn’t need. He got so much stuff from his family, that bugging someone as busy as Santa seemed like a dumb idea. But the last few hours had changed something in him. 

He thought about his dad and the way he had talked about love. He thought about his mom, and how she used to smile and hug him close. He hadn't considered asking Santa for anything at all. But now? Now he knew just what he could ask for.

“It’s a secret,” he said as he stood from his spot. “But I’m gonna go over now. You wanna come?”

She shook her braids so they whirled around her head. “Not yet, I have to finish this for my dad.”

Will smiled at her as he moved across the room. 

Roy was seated among a few other people, dressed in a red fur suit, his hat and beard slightly askew on his face. Will saw that his aunt stood close with her phone out, taking about a million pictures. He kind of loved watching the two of them together. 

“You look silly,” Will said as he came to stand next to Roy.

Roy sighed but gave William a smile. “Did Thea send you over her to give me a hard time?”

“No,” he replied then moved a little closer. “So how does this work exactly?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Kids tell you what they want for Christmas and what, you send the list to the big guy?” Will questioned again with an exaggerated eye roll. 

“Yeah,” Roy said slowly. “That’s exactly how it works.”

“Good,” Will said, jumping up to land on Roy’s lap. “He’s gonna have his work cut out for him this year.”

“Meaning?” Roy looked over his shoulder, trying his best to catch Thea’s attention. “I thought Thea said you weren’t into the whole asking for stuff?”

“This isn’t for me,” William said as he crossed his arms. “This is much more important than me.”

“Will what are you getting at?”

This was the hard part, actually putting words to the plan he had thought about all day. But the more Will let things sit in his head, the more he knew he what he had to do. He thought about his mom, if she was here, he knew what she would say. Sometimes you had to put the thoughts out into the universe if you wanted anything good to come of it.

“I want,” William said taking a deep breath. “I want Santa to bring my dad someone for Christmas. Someone to fall in love with.”


End file.
